Trump Nominates Conservative (But Not Divisive) Judge Neil Gorsuch To The Supreme Court

Delivering on another of his campaign promise, US President Donald J. Trump nominated today (31 January, 8:30 PM Eastern Standard Time) federal judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court. If approved by the US senate, he will fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia who died in February last year. President Obama had announced his own pick to fill the seat but republican-majority Congress didn’t approve him.

Gorsuch’s appointment would mean that the balance between conservative and liberal judges would be restored to 4-4 in the nine-member Supreme Court bench. Justice Kennedy is known to vote with both groups depending on the issues. Gorsuch is only 49 which makes him the youngest judge to be nominated in 25 years. This means he would be writing judgments for decades to come. He is also close to Justice Kennedy and was in the same class as Obama’s at Harvard Law School.

Gorsuch is known for his conservative bent but he is not someone who is seen as divisive. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to the federal bench in 2006 and was approved in a bipartisan manner.

Gorsuch needs to win the support of 60 members in the US Senate. Given that 52 Republican Senators would support him, he would need eight Democrats to avoid a filibuster. Democrats don’t seem in any mood to give Trump an easy win at this point.

Trump called the selection process of his Supreme Court nominee as the most transparent in the history of the US. He said he had put out the list of 20 judges for selection to the Supreme Court before the voters and it was one of the most important issues they had voted him on.